Colorado College’s Jaden Schwartz leading the WCHA in scoring

My Tuesday college hockey notes includes a look at the sensational Jaden Schwartz, the CC freshman wing who leads the WCHA in conference scoring. In six WCHA games, Schwartz has six goals and 10 points. That’s impressive stuff for an 180-pound, 18-year-old, given that the WCHA can be so cruel to youngsters (see Beau Bennett).

While putting together the piece, I noticed that another high-profile freshman leads the league in goals (WCHA games only). DU rookie Jason Zucker has seven goals in six conference games. Zucker, my pick for WCHA preseason rookie of the year, did not score in the nonconference games against Vermont and Boston College. His seven tallies have all come in DU’s last six games.

I also wrote about how DU needs secondary scoring. Only seven Pios have lit the lamp, and 14 of the team’s 26 goals have come from Zucker and sophomore center Drew Shore (seven). By the way, Mr. Shore has two more goals than what he had in 41 games as a freshman.

DU senior center Jesse Martin was today scheduled to undergo surgery in St. Paul, Minn., to stablize the three fractures to his C2 vertebra. I have no update. There has been no release from DU and I’m waiting to hear back from Marty’s father.

If DU’s brutal season-opening 10-game stretch didn’t end so badly in Colorado Springs on Saturday, you’d think the Pios would be happy being 4-4-2, given the handful of freshmen playing big roles. Still, DU is battle-tested and should climb well above .500 this month. I did some math and figured out the combined record for DU’s next three opponents that make up the next six games is 8-18-7.